The Hot Water Association (HWA) has published a new technical standard for heat pumps.
The standard is called Hot water storage vessels for Domestic Purposes for use with Heat Pumps and it outlines requirements, test methods, and labelling for hot water storage vessels designed primarily for indirect water heating using heat pumps.
This standard will sit alongside EN 12897 (for boiler heated indirect cylinders) and will ensure that the UK carbon footprint reduction achievable by a transition to heat pump use will be maximised by the matching with correctly designed hot water cylinders. Previously, no standard existed for the specification and manufacture of heat pump indirect cylinders.
HWA commercial chair, Stuart Elsy, commented:
“This future standard, developed in collaboration with HWA members, industry experts, and government, will fill a gaping hole that could have opened in the standards landscape. Heat pumps will become central to the way that new homes are heated and it is essential that their efficiency is optimised by use with compatible cylinders. Heat pumps vary in their method of operation. This standard will identify the correct specification of cylinder to link with a particular heat pump.”
HWA, a division of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), is the trade association for hot water cylinder manufacturers and members are responsible for over 95 per cent of all hot water cylinders fitted in the UK.
You can view and download a copy of the new technical standard here.